Hellooooooooo creators and creator fanatics!

I hope everyone had a happy holiday and is ready for some New Year celebrations! I know that I’m likely the only newsletter in your inbox this week, but that just means we have somethin’ special ❤️

Or it means neither of us knows how to relax, but we’ll keep that between friends, promise.

Alright you little overachiever, let’s dive in.

-Luke

Creators Commanding 2023 Ad Space

YouTube dropped a gem of a study last week, taking a look into how viewers are interacting with ads, what ads are the most effective, and highlighting some noticeable changes from years past. Let’s see how these dollars and cents add up:

Storytelling is King

• It should be no surprise to find the biggest brands utilizing all forms of content style. From short to long form, brands took the route of diversifying formats and platforms for max reach

• Brands like Apple explored 90-minute study sessions and long form tech deep dives, Louis Vuitton explored 20-minute shows and doubled down on short form with ‘6-Second Slay,’ and more.

• Basically, if you didn’t start diversifying your content strategy this year, you better have a new New Year’s resolution. 👀 

Creators & Culture are Key:

• It’s no secret that brands collabing with creators who share a target audience reap the rewards. So finding out that 68% of Gen Z viewers come for creators, makes partnerships that much more powerful.

Short (form) Kings:

• Short form is where a majority of eyes are, and brands breaking into this niche effectively are seeing the positive results.

• This study found that Short form not only gets more eyes on your brand, but it can drive conversions: Campaigns who used short form ads saw 10-20% more conversions per dollar on Shorts.

• Brands like Duolingo racking up 25M monthly views, Scrub Daddy with 600k subs, War Thunder creating a cult following with memes and beyond can show that even massive brands can create an impact in the content creation space.

Whether You Like It or Not, AI Works:

• AI-powered Video Reach Campaigns achieved 3.7X higher ROI than manual campaigns, but those AI campaigns don’t create the cult following subculture, so don’t stress about the dropshippers.

• Massive companies are using AI to drive sales and rake in even better ROI, though. Companies like Snack giant Mondelez International used AI to increase ROI by over 10% globally and 20% in the U.S.

What’s In Store for 2024?:

• New content formats? Maybe! Because these companies are seeing such great ROI on content and working with creators across the board, they’re going to be more likely to work with creators in other niches and using other formats. So get out there and get those collabs, creator!

• Storytelling will remain king! From short form to long, creators and brands who can tell stories and lean into being actual creators will come out on top and continue to reap the rewards.

• Get ready for more brands on shorts. They’ve seen the success, and will absolutely be creating more content in the new year. Let’s just hope we get more brands like Duolingo, Scrub Daddy and GoPro.

• AI is going to get better. AI optimization is inevitable, and it will continue permeating the creator space as brands see more success when utilizing these tools.

• To wrap it all up, utilizing new tools are key, but don’t go too crazy and leave it up to the AI overlords, because storytelling holds more value than you could possibly imagine. Stay creative, craft narratives, and hold your audience close this upcoming year. Let’s get after it in 2024!

Prime Adds Another Celeb

And just like that, Prime secures yet another insane collaboration that’s sure to put Gatorade against the ropes.

As a partner of some massive brands such as Arsenal FC, LA Dodgers, FC Barcelona, and the UFC, Prime just signed yet another big name and face to their roster, Patrick Mahomes.

Bringing on one of the most popular football QBs in the game, Prime continues to level up their reach and rep as the top sports drink in the game.

This partnership will have Mahomes collaborating on socials with Prime, hosting charity events, fundraisers, and beyond.

As part of this partnership, Prime has also donated $100k to Mahomes' charity, Mahomies Foundation (wow this name made me lol, we love a good pun).

With an insane roster of MMA fighters, boxers, soccer, hockey, and now football players, Prime is gearing up for a wild 2024 (with over $1B in projected revenue 🤯).

Seeing a creator brand explode in just a few short years to the point that they're giving Gatorade execs cold sweats is incredible, and makes me so hyped up to see the next big name brands taking over the space being owned by creators.

This article was pulled from my LinkedIn profile where I cover the latest in creator news as it comes out! If you want to be even more in the know and want to connect further, be sure to give me a follow and send me a connect request!

Life Lessons & Introspection

Meet Shaffer Nickel, a radical creator who has introspective narratives and beautiful, dynamically shot content.

From film to photography, editing, voiceovers, and more, Shaffer Nickel creates gorgeous scenes that all tell deep stories about his life, life lessons, adventures, and beyond.

My Co-Founder, Dylan sent me Shaffer’s content, and from my first click, I was addicted. As a storyteller at heart, Shaffer’s content resonated with me deeply. Giving us breakdowns on cinematography tech, takeaways from his life journeys, tips on how he’s overcome certain roadblocks, and so much more; Shaffer carefully crafts each of his videos to make it feel like you’re watching a mini-documentary rather than a YouTube video.

Shaffer is a pro at crafting stories that he cares about in a way to makes every viewer care. Whether he’s tackling big topics like sobriety, fear, or creativity, or he’s taking us on a journey about camcorders or his camper van, Shaffer masterfully sucks in a viewer and keeps their attention with his alluring shooting and editing abilities.

Shaffer is a fantastic creator to dive into before the new year. Watching his content has made me want to get out and live more, and capture more of these moments as I experience them, especially with my recent move to Colorado. Shaffer has made me want to write more from a personal standpoint, take my camera wherever I go, hit record even in the moments that I think aren’t “worth it,” and overall, get out and do more things that I enjoy.

The life lessons that Shaffer deals out were exactly what I needed at this time of year, and it’s gotten me hyped up to create more content in 2024. Thank you for being a creative inspiration, Shaffer, keep pumping out the incredible content!!

[Check out Shaffer’s content]

🤔 What Are Your Thoughts?

Do you have any New Year goals for your content creation?!

Mine is to hit 1000 subs on this newsletter and begin recording more of myself for content (ya boi is camera shy, send tips on how not to feel like a doofus while recording).

I would love to hear what you’re working on in the coming year! Let me know your goals by replying to this email!

🚀 Up Your Career as a Creator

Hope you enjoyed this week’s post. See you next week ✌️